Human Rights USA – Victims Of Violence

Giving shelter to those fleeing persecution abroad has always been part of America’s welcoming immigration policy. Americans generally want to help people facing persecution overseas to the extent that they can… and our asylum system has been crafted to reflect this reality.

Obviously there are practical limits and our laws require that certain thresholds be met before an individual claimant is granted asylum.

For many years, one of Washington DC’s Best Immigration Lawyers, Sahlu Mikael, Founder of the Law Offices of Sahlu Mikael, …… has worked to expand opportunities for asylum, even if it means advocating to expand the original intent and traditional interpretation of the law to help those in need.

For Sahlu, the battle over asylum is not only about giving shelter to persecuted individuals…. but also about remaking American legal norms…. and establishing victim status for a number of officially recognized groups.

One of his more significant successful Asylum cases using documented spousal abuse to qualify for asylum, happened in December 2009, when Sahlu and his client caught a lucky break when the Obama administration, issued a policy that it would look…. favorably at certain asylum cases based on domestic violence.

Human trafficking – as well as forced marriage – is indisputably recognized around the world as an egregious human rights abuse, and many victims of this abuse fear that they cannot safely return to their home countries after escaping. Up until that time, domestic violence was not a grounds for asylum.

When a court in San Francisco found a Guatemalan woman who had suffered severe domestic abuse…. eligible for political asylum… Sahlu’s client became eligible too for political asylum too.

Sahlu’s client… a 45 year old West African woman…. for the first time in over 20 years… will tell her story publicly and how she was sold as a sex-slave bride… to an embassy employee… who having diplomatic immunity, trafficked her into the US and held her as a sex-slave for 15 long years, until she escaped with her children and hid for 1 year in a safe house in Washington DC.

She was constantly beaten, raped, humiliated, insulted, and forced to clean house and cook for her slave owner and his various girlfriends. Even today, she lives under the constant fear of reprisal ….at the hands of her former husband’s family.

Today the INSIDER EXCLUSIVE “Goes Behind The Headlines” in Human Rights USA – Victims of Violence ….. to examine how Sahlu Mikael, successfully represents victims of domestic violence in asylum cases, and other very challenging immigration cases… and the how some of Washington DC’s most respected Shelters help women, children and families in their greatest need and….. with very limited resources build safe, stable lives and achieve their highest potential. At these shelters, women, children and families heal from lifetimes of traumatic abuse.

Sahlu Mikael has earned the highest respect from citizens and lawyers alike…. as one of the best Immigration lawyers in Washington DC….. and in the nation.

And through his experience, he has developed successful litigation strategies to help convince judges and asylum officers that trafficking and forced marriage are forms of persecution…….and that people fleeing such persecution may be eligible for asylum.

Armed with his knowledge and determination…..He is driven to fight for people who cannot fight for themselves. His goals….. Not ONLY To get Justice for his clients…..BUT To make sure that all those who seek valid visa requests are not denied or unreasonably delayed. And to help bring an end to modern-day slavery and human trafficking as a National Priority.